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Sophos Protects Portsmouth College From Viruses And Spam

Portsmouth College has selected PureMessage, the consolidated anti-spam and anti-virus solution from ...

on 2005-01-18 03:49:28

Sophos PureMessage secures network with automatic updates

Portsmouth College has selected PureMessage, the consolidated anti-spam and anti-virus solution from Sophos, to protect its network and 4,500 users from spam emails, viruses, worms and Trojan horses. The College, which provides a wide variety of flexible courses to more than 800 full-time and 3,000 part-time students, chose Sophos PureMessage for its effectiveness, ease of implementation, and automatic updating features.

Having successfully used Sophos Anti-Virus for several years, Portsmouth College decided it also needed anti-spam protection when it rolled out email to all staff and students. Its previous solution, a leading open-source alternative, proved too difficult both to train to recognise spam and to keep updated. Sophos's hassle-free automatic updates were an essential requirement that freed up time for the College's IT staff. Sophos PureMessage processes around 12,000 messages per day and blocks approximately 50,000 spam messages and email-borne viruses per month for the College, freeing up resources which were previously spent dealing with unwanted email. PureMessage also protects the external webmail access that Portsmouth provides.

"With our previous anti-spam filter, updating was a nightmare, but with PureMessage someone else worries about that and our system is updated every hour," said Brian Chivers, ICT Support Officer, Portsmouth College. "The Sophos solution meets all of our requirements, not least because it runs on our existing Linux system."

With a large number of foreign students, from such countries as Russia, Croatia and India, Portsmouth College needed an anti-spam solution with the ability to handle emails in multiple languages. Equally important, considering the College's 'right of care' for students under the age of 18, was the ability to stop emails comprising adult content. For those users who want to continue to receive some marketing emails, Sophos PureMessage also has a quarantine feature that allows staff and students to individually tailor the spam filter, releasing any emails that they wish to access.

Portsmouth College is committed to using technology to enhance the learning experience, with every student having access to the College intranet, a fast developing learning and information resource. In total, the College's IT network includes 500 desktops, and 20 servers.

In addition to the protection against email-borne viruses and spam provided by Sophos PureMessage, to keep its network virus free, Portsmouth College also uses Sophos Anti-Virus to provide protection at the desktop level. Many students still use floppy disks for coursework and the increasing popularity of USB pen drives means that the College is vulnerable to viruses entering the network via means other than email.

About Portsmouth College
Portsmouth College provides a wide variety of flexible courses to more than 800 full-time students. Course offerings include more than 40 AS and A Levels to choose from and an extensive programme of intermediate and foundation level courses. Portsmouth College allows students to mix vocational and academic courses.

About Sophos:
Sophos is a world leading specialist developer of anti-virus and anti-spam software. Headquartered in the UK, the company protects businesses and organisations - from small enterprises to governments and global corporations - against viruses and spam. Sophos is acclaimed for delivering the highest level of customer satisfaction and protection in the industry. The company's products are sold and supported in more than 150 countries. www.sophos.com

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